During casting or molding of an optic, excess resin or flash may result in irregular edges about the periphery of the optic. Machines are used to trim the flash from the periphery of an optic, but current trimming machines require the optic to be mounted on a block for positioning and holding. The use of a block is disadvantageous in that it must be removed after the trimming process is complete. In addition, the optic is secured to the block by an adhesive that must be cleaned off once the trimming operation is complete. These additional steps are complex and thus, relatively expensive to automate.
Conventional trimming machines are disadvantageous in several other respects. In particular, current machines require an operator to load and download the optic at each station. Trimmer machines typically require traced data to cut the optic to different diameters. Furthermore, the optic must be cleaned manually. For these reasons conventional trimming machines are inefficient and expensive in that they require individuals to perform manual operations.
In addition, during the trimming operation, it is important to maintain the work area substantially free from particles and debris. To ensure a substantially debris free work area, the trimming operation typically is performed in a separate area from the optic production area.
Because of the foregoing disadvantages associated with conventional trimming machines, the optimum cycle time is approximately at least 30 seconds per optic. Thus, additional machines are typically used in order to increase the production rate.
It is therefore desirable to develop an automatic trimming machine that solves one or more of the aforementioned problems.